Further evidence of validity of the Nursing Decision Making Instrument: an Italian validation study

Background and aim of the work: Nurses face many decisions in their daily practice. Indeed, the decision-making process is an integral part of nursing practice. This study aimed to provide the Italian version of the Nursing Decision Making Instrument (NDMI) and establish its content and face validity, construct validity, and reliability among Italian nurses. Methods: A three phases validation, methodological and cross-sectional study was realized. Phase one referred to the cultural-linguistic translation of the NDMI into Italian (i.e., I-NDMI). Phase two aimed to obtain a good level of content and face validity (cut-off <0.70). Phase three involved a cross-section data collection amongst Italian nurses in assessing the construct validity and reliability of the I-NDMI. Results: A total of five hundred thirty-two (532) participants were enrolled in three Italian hospitals. The 65.6% were female (n=349), with a mean age of 40.81 (SD±9.91) years. The majority of participants were clinical nurses working by shifts (n=390; 73.3%) with a mean working experience of 16.21 (SD±10.43) years. I-NDMI showed adequate content validity. Confirmatory factor analysis models supported the four-factorial structure of the I-NDMI (i.e., Intuition; Prevision; Assessment; Planning) in explaining data obtained from nurses. Moreover, the scale and each domain showed adequate internal consistency. Conclusions: This study constituted an advancement in the psychometric testing of the NDMI. Future research should identify specific decision-making processes and their determinants to allow theoretically grounded interventions to improve decision-making among nurses.